What do you use your air miles for?

**peanut** · 04-21-2011, 03:46 PM

Curious what people have been able to 'buy' with their air miles in Canada. We don't seriously collect air miles. For those of you who do, what are your strategies?

We usually cash ours in for gift certificates before Christmas to use as gifts for the kids.

**monkeywrangler71** · 04-21-2011, 04:57 PM

We cash them in for Sobeys gift certificates.

I'm on a couple panels that pay in air miles, and occasionally find a promotion that gives out air miles. I convert hbc points even though the exchange rate is not good, but it would take the rest of my life to earn something from them since I rarely shop at their stores. On the rare occasion that I buy something online I sign in through their site to earn points. Otherwise, just earn points at their partner stores.

**acidcookie** · 04-21-2011, 05:44 PM

I use them for ... air travel!

**mom2three** · 04-21-2011, 09:49 PM

We use them for air travel. When hubby moved here before us three years ago, it was the only way we could afford to fly him home for a visit. We used them for 7 trips that year if I remember correctly.

**mom2three** · 04-21-2011, 09:51 PM

I have also occasionally used them for merchandise if it is a decent deal and would use them for Sobeys if it were necessary. Right now, we're saving up for gas gift certificates to take a trip to Ontario.

**acidcookie** · 04-21-2011, 09:58 PM

D'oh! I just saw this is the Frugal Canadians section.

I always just hit "new posts" on the site so the posts are in one list regardless of which section they're in.

**peanut** · 04-22-2011, 12:55 PM

I'm curious...how do you ever earn enough for air travel?! We only collect about 200 miles a year, even transferring our HBC points. We just don't shop a lot at places that use air miles I guess. Or we just don't shop...

**monkeywrangler71** · 04-22-2011, 01:11 PM

Originally Posted by peanut

I'm curious...how do you ever earn enough for air travel?! We only collect about 200 miles a year, even transferring our HBC points. We just don't shop a lot at places that use air miles I guess. Or we just don't shop...

I don't know how it would be possible to earn enough unless you have an AirMiles American Express card or one of the BMO products. We collect another brand of points on our credit card and have earned enough to take many trips plus have cashed in for other rewards.

**Debbie-cat** · 04-22-2011, 02:00 PM

When I lived back home and used my air miles card, I used them for hotel rooms. It took me a while to save for enough but I always managed a weekend away once a year.

**acidcookie** · 04-22-2011, 02:44 PM

Originally Posted by peanut

I'm curious...how do you ever earn enough for air travel?! We only collect about 200 miles a year, even transferring our HBC points. We just don't shop a lot at places that use air miles I guess. Or we just don't shop...

I fly a few times a year so I get quite a few then. I stick to flying one airline if I can and I shop through that airline's miles shopping site for every retailer they have listed. For example, if I want to buy something on Newegg's site, I'll get there through Delta's shopping site and they might be offering 3 miles/$1 that day. I also use e-miles.com which lets you earn some miles for viewing offers and then even more for completing them. I have actually only earned a couple free tickets so far, and one was possible mainly due to flying to China last summer, which earned me 14,000 miles. You can also buy additional miles to have enough for a flight, which is sometimes cheaper than buying a whole ticket with cash.

I don't have a miles CC but technically I could use my card's rewards for miles. DH has a miles CC with United and that has earned him a few free tickets.

**Libby** · 04-22-2011, 03:01 PM

I'm thinking Air Miles in the US is more beneficial then in Canada?

We have a good # of miles yet when I tried to book a rental car through one of their approved affiliates...I couldn't even use ALL my miles to get a weeks rental on an 'economy' car - how sad was that? Ended up not using them and finding a better deal online.

Occasionally we've converted our miles for gift certificates but not often. We don't have any of their bank/credit cards nor go out of our way to shop at an Air Miles affiliate either. Its kinda in the background for us.

**monkeywrangler71** · 04-22-2011, 03:15 PM

Originally Posted by Libby

Occasionally we've converted our miles for gift certificates but not often. We don't have any of their bank/credit cards nor go out of our way to shop at an Air Miles affiliate either. Its kinda in the background for us.

The only place I ever earned them in Ontario was at the LCBO

**Libby** · 04-22-2011, 03:18 PM

Originally Posted by monkeywrangler71

The only place I ever earned them in Ontario was at the LCBO

Oooh!! Something to look forward to for my upcoming wedding

At least the miles will go to good use - thanks for the heads up!

ETA: I misread your post - you can earn them at the LCBO but you can't redeem them there - unless I can't find it on their site. The only places I've earned Air Miles is: Metro, Shell and the LCBO.

**monkeywrangler71** · 04-22-2011, 03:25 PM

Originally Posted by Libby

I'm thinking Air Miles in the US is more beneficial then in Canada?

She's talking about an airline reward program like Aeroplan - we've earned tons of miles flying with Air Canada, but we cash them in for Esso gift cards.

We rarely use any type of rewards for flights because I don't find you get a fair price, particularly for short haul flights. You can usually buy on a seat sale for less than the value of the points they want to charge.